


Mariner’s Hollo

by Eirean



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Come Marking, Come as Lube, Docking, Enemies to co-workers to lovers, Foreskin Play, Frottage, Getting Together, M/M, Mostly not, Multiple Orgasms, No Refractory Period, Not Canon Compliant, Post TLJ, Rimming, Wee bit of plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:35:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25345555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eirean/pseuds/Eirean
Summary: Whilst on a diplomatic mission, Kylo is invited to take part in the planet’s ancient ritual, and demands that the Grand Marshall accompany him. Said Grand Marshall is deeply unimpressed by the whole thing.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 85





	Mariner’s Hollo

**Author's Note:**

> This began life as the answer to a prompt for the Kylux Big Bang 2019 (I know), and I’m just glad to have it finished, albeit very slowly, and to have had such a fruitful prompt in the first place. Thank you again, ReadyTakeTwo, your art is truly wonderful, and I hope this is even vaguely like what you had in mind!

‘Hux’, Kylo hissed quietly, well aware of the importance of presenting a united front – he had begun to wonder if Hux thought he had some form of hearing problem, which might very well account for their previous difficult working relationship, he’d said so so often, ‘where do you think you’re going?’

  
‘Back to the Finalizer, Supreme Leader. The Vorkosigans have agreed to all our terms and signed the treaty. A successful afternoon, no?’

  
‘No. I mean yes, but we’re not done here.’

  
Hux scoffed. ‘You can’t mean that ridiculous ritual. And even if you do, I don’t see why I have to be here. Supreme Leader.’ And with that, Hux turned sharply on his heel and tried to walk away. Emphasis on ‘tried’, as Kylo simply albeit gently dragged him back the few paces he’d managed. He might only be able to see the back of his head, but Kylo was well able to imagine the expression on his Grand Marshall’s face and thought he might actually be able to see him grinding his teeth. Always fun.

  
‘You promised, Supreme Leader, somewhat sincerely, not to use the force on the officers of the Order.’

  
‘I did, and I’m not.’

  
Hux’s head dipped down. ‘I beg to differ.’

  
‘I’m not using it on you, just your clothes.’ Their relationship might have improved in recent months but needling at Hux remained his primary source of entertainment. A safe way to get his whole attention - Hux couldn’t retaliate easily, but he’d also reached a stage where he wasn’t afraid of Kylo anymore. He knew Hux was dying to tear into him, to call him an overgrown child. Kylo didn’t need to be in his head to know that for a fact. Hux’s facade of professionalism when dealing with him was Kylo’s favourite thing to poke holes in, especially in High Command meetings. Hux spun to face him. ‘Supreme Leader. It remains unwise to have two of the senior-most officers of the fleet in the same location, particularly when one has a bridge to command.’

  
‘Yes, I do recall you saying something similar this morning. And yesterday, at the mission briefing. I believe you may also have mentioned it when the mission was first being planned. And it’s in the notes you prepared for me.’

  
He hadn’t quite managed to crack the Grand Marshall’s stone façade yet today, bar a pinching of his eyebrows.

  
‘I’m glad you’ve been listening, Supreme Leader. I’ll return to the Finalizer presently then. When can we expect you back on board?’

  
Kylo didn’t bother to reply, turning away to inform the officials he would be only too happy to take part in the esoteric ritual they had been so earnestly invited to. He had actually read Hux’s extensive briefings on the planet, and knew the planet had a long history with the Force that he was eager to learn more about. Surely this ritual would have some roots in ancient truths, even if the ages had bastardised or corrupted it.

Ahead of him, Hux slammed to a halt. ‘I am not getting in that’, he hissed through clenched teeth at Kylo. Kylo ducked his head to hide the smile threatening to break out as he put a hand on Hux’s back to shove him forward.

  
‘The Grand Marshall will be accompanying me for the duration of the ritual’, Kylo informed the gathered officials.

  
‘Ah, traditionally, Supreme Leader, the ritual is done alone – the solitude aids a deeper commune with the primal forces of the ritual…’

  
‘Are you implying I need such an aid to connect to the Force?’ Kylo replied, with a raised eyebrow, nothing to show of his temper but a tightened fist. ‘The Grand Marshall will accompany me. This is not a discussion.’

For once, Hux hadn’t attempted to interject, contenting himself with a steady glare at the state of the submarine the leaders of the planet thought fit for the purpose of ferrying the Supreme Leader to the bottom of the ocean and back. Kylo didn’t need to be focusing on him to read those thoughts from the surface of his mind – Hux was loud even in the confines of his head.

‘This is unacceptable.’ Hux told Kylo. ‘This submarine is scarcely fit for purpose.’

  
‘I was not aware, Grand Marshall, that the First Order had submarines, for us to use instead.’ Kylo commented, well aware of Hux’s pride in his own work, and his distrust in the work of others.

  
Hux gritted his teeth and took the other seat in the cramped space of the cab, having decided silence was the better part of valour. Kylo wished for a moment that he could tell Hux to say those comments out loud, that he thought he was funny, sometimes. It would certainly help nudge along their less adversarial but still tense relationship into something more balanced. Hux had to duck carefully to avoid one of the many loose and hanging wires of the cabin. ‘Do you even know how to pilot this thing?’ Hux demanded, silence not lasting long. ‘Some of this tech is older than I am. This guidance software…’

  
Kylo cut him off, ‘I have the force to guide me, Hux, and even if I didn’t, we’re hardly likely to get lost.’ He nodded to the dashboard. ‘Tell them to release us.’

  
Hux looked grim as he flicked the required switches, his expression growing more pinched when sparks flickered momentarily over his gloved knuckles. ‘Kriffing wonderful’, Hux muttered under his breath as a jolt ran through the sub as it hit the water. The cabin went dark as they rapidly descended, until the lights came up slowly, dim even against the blackness rapidly swallowing them up.

The submarine jerked to a stop suspended high above a gaping abyss in the ocean floor, visible through the transparent sections of the floor. Bar the sounds of the submarine itself, it was perfectly still and quiet, suspended in the dark. They weren’t that far down, not yet - Kylo hadn’t even begun the first station of the ritual - but already he could feel an unusual clarity in his connections to everything around him. It made him feel lighter in a way he hadn’t since his childhood connections to the force.

So Kylo shouldn’t have been surprised that Hux would ruin it, with questions that managed to be snappy, irritated and interrogative at the same time. Unable to stop himself from prodding at the edges of Hux’s mind and feelings, he could feel how brittle that composure was, the irritation a weak shield against the anxiety spitting up underneath.

  
‘Hush, Grand Marshall. If you won’t take part, then be quiet.’ Kylo snapped at him, feeling overly irritable and sensitive, and even more annoyed because of it, knowing he was being unreasonable.

  
‘Why bring me at all?’ Hux demanded, oblivious to Kylo’s mood, ‘My presence is absolutely superfluous here. All that this is going to accomplish is the both of us ending up crushed at the bottom of the ocean.’

Kylo ignored him, doing his best to block out the other man’s sharp, spiny presence pressing in on him in the force, difficult to ignore as usual. He stood and moved back into the interior of the sub, to its main area with its open glass panels looking out into the dark blue and green ocean beyond, shafts of light still visible from the surface. Kylo found himself falling into a shallow meditation with an unfamiliar ease, the energies of the ritual and the oceanic presence pressing in on him and moving through him. By the time he felt them drop again, Kylo had lost track of how much time had passed.

The jolt downward, together with the grind of the engines firing up, was enough to bring him up from his meditative trance. All at once, he could feel Hux’s anxiety, irritation and boredom pressing all the harder against his own mind. It drew him in, the desire to press his fingers against those tender areas, make Hux hurt, make the feelings sharper. He swayed up to his feet, moving back to find Hux.

‘Done already? That didn’t take as long as I thought it might.’ Hux said as Kylo came into the small space of the cab. ‘This has been absolutely intolerable, Supreme Leader - the combination of the depth and whatever primitive material this sub is made of means my datapad cannot connect to either the Finalizer or the First Order network at large. We are cut off from the fleet,’ Hux continued, hardly expecting Kylo to contribute to the conversation, but the tones of his strident voice faded into background noise for Kylo, the waves of emotion from him so much louder and sharper than his actual voice. Kylo didn’t remember where or when he’d pulled his gloves off, but before he knew it, one of his hands was wrapped carefully around the back of Hux’s neck, just at his hairline. His thumb ended up on the soft skin behind his ear, brushing against soft red hair. Softer than he was expecting - Hux didn’t look like any part of him should be soft. Hux had gone prey-still and tense under his hand, oblivious to Kylo’s thought process..

‘Tell me what you’re afraid of,’ Kylo ordered after a still moment’s silence. ‘I’ll know if you lie.’ His voice sounded too loud, too grating against his own ears after the perfect unusual quiet of his own mind. It was at odds with his gentle hold on the other man. He pushed down the desire to pull him up by the neck, or hair, to tighten his grip to crushing - make Hux answer him with either his fists or the force, suddenly sure it would make Hux both angry and afraid, like he hadn’t been in a long time, and that it would be so good. Kylo would be able to touch the feelings with his hands, and consume them like Starkiller had eaten a sun.

  
Hux turned enough in his grip to sneer at him, lip curling spitefully at him. ‘You surely mean my perfectly rational and understandable concern that this rust bucket will buckle under the pressure if we go much deeper?’

  
‘We have far to go,’ Kylo said, the words feeling pulled from a place deep inside. He stared at Hux, so, so tempted to tighten his grip on the delicate expanse of bone under his hand. It felt like something was urging him on to push at Hux’s weak points – the lingering anxiety, the sharp annoyance and the deep, intoxicating well of fear leaking out under Hux’s fraying control. The sub jerked to a halt again - Kylo hadn’t even noticed that they had been moving steadily downwards, the shafts of light from the surface fading away. He let go, backing off, though he didn’t drop his eyes from Hux’s until he was through the doors and back into the main space.

**********

Once Ren had gone again to do the next stage of his ill-timed force ritual, having crept backwards in a predatory manner – at least Armitage assumed that’s what Ren thought he looked like - he felt he could uncoil slightly. The air always felt lighter when Ren was away. Still, at least the enforced captivity was doing wonders for his productivity, anxiety about the situation aside, as he turned back to his datapad.

He’d thankfully had a lot of practice at putting Ren out of his mind, even when his behaviour veered from annoying to alarming. He had actually made good headway through his never-ending pile of administrative forms; Armitage took the chance to open some of his newer schematics. He was finding his updates to the Upsilon-class design to be particularly diverting - so much so that he almost missed the growing green and blue bioluminescence filtering into the sub. He’d been very successful at avoiding looking at the depth meter, knowing at some point they were going to plunge down into the abyss on the ocean floor and very much wanting to miss that moment.

Looking out now though, he could admit that the quick flashes of green and blue of the sea life outside were fascinating. Something large moved outside, hidden in the inky blue darkness of the water. A silvery fish had moved up very close to the sub, staring in at him with flat eyes. He’d never been one for nature, preferring ships and the sterility of space to planet-side life, but the deep blue sea outside was soothing in a novel way, despite the company and the worrying though occasional creaking and sparking of the sub. The engine noises were a particular source of anxiety he was trying not to hear – it brought up unpleasant memories of ships from his childhood. He’d never been quite so appreciative of the clean and quiet noises of the Finalizer before.

He felt a bit hypnotised by the view by the time Ren came barging back in, silent yet disruptive. The depth and dark were not doing his usually precise body clock any favours. At least this time the ‘Supreme Leader’ kept his hands to himself.

‘Tell me something, Grand Marshall. What stayed your hand? What stopped you on the Supremacy?’

  
‘Why don’t you tell me? You’ve never been shy before about getting those grubby mental fingers of yours in everyone else’s head.’ Armitage shot back, unwilling to admit his surprise at the question, only turning back around enough for Ren to see his profile, even as it made him uncomfortable to put his back to Ren.

  
‘Why do you think I made you Grand Marshall?’ Ren asked. Armitage knew he was still staring at him, tracing the line of his nose, of his shoulders. He had always been able to feel the weight of Ren’s eyes on him.

  
‘Because that was the deal we struck, Supreme Leader. You remember, after you took it upon yourself to knock me unconscious, left me in the medbay and nearly caused a fleet-wide mutiny.’

‘Fleet-wide is perhaps an over-exaggeration. Ship-wide at worst.’

‘You wish, Ren.’ Armitage replied, curling his lip at the thought. Despite himself, Ren snorted, an unfamiliar and broad smile on his face. That got Armitage turning fully around to face him, suddenly full of outrage and surprise.

‘Are you actually laughing right now?’ he demanded.

  
Ren shrugged. ‘I don’t know, am I?’

  
‘What is wrong with you? Even for you, you’re acting… strangely.’

  
‘I feel strange. I was so angry earlier, but I meditated at the next stop like the ritual said, and now I just feel… strange. Off-balance, maybe’, Ren confessed. ‘You did feel better though, afterwards.’

  
‘What are you talking about, Ren?’ Armitage asked, failing to keep his confusion off his face.

  
Ren shrugged at him. ‘You felt better, after I made you sleep for awhile. Clearer.’

  
Armitage stared at him. ‘You risked the command structure of the Order at large, and the running of my ship because you felt I needed a nap.’

  
‘Yes.’ Ren answered, apparently ignorant to the many things he had to say to that. ‘I wasn’t myself, after Snoke died.’ He frowned. ‘Or I was too much myself.’

  
‘Ren…’ Armitage started to say.

  
‘And you were not, as you would say, operating at maximum efficiency. Had you even slept since the attack on Starkiller?’

  
Armitage narrowed his eyes. ‘Some. Your actions were still a gross over-reaction.’ He would have continued, aired some of those many thoughts Ren was ignorant of, but the other man interrupted to say, ‘Did you know Peavey thought I had hit you, those circles under your eyes were so bad?’

  
‘In addition to my fetching and matching bruises across the neck you mean?’ Armitage shot back, rather unable to keep his mouth shut, and feeling very off balance. Ren often had that effect, but it was worse down here, unable to leave, in a machine older than them, and with Ren acting oddly, unstable even, adding to his anxiety. He refused to acknowledge the creeping thought climbing up the back of his neck that said Ren was just as unstable and unpredictable after Snoke died, and nearly took the Order with him.

  
‘I apologised for that’, Ren said quietly, ‘It won’t happen again.’

  
Armitage sighed. The last thing he wanted was for this conversation to keep happening, and for Ren to turn more maudlin. ‘Shouldn’t you be doing your ritual? I’d like to get back to the Finalizer this cycle, Supreme Leader.’ To his seemingly perpetual surprise, Ren actually took it as the dismissal it was.

Once Ren had disappeared again, it seemed like he took the lights with him. It took him a moment to realise the luminescent life outside the sub had disappeared with the depth. At least he’d missed the moment they plunged down into the abyss. The blackness outside was alarming enough to make him consider following Ren. A crack and a hiss of electricity from somewhere behind him was actually enough to get him moving. Armitage had no idea whether Ren could hold the sub together or not if it proved unable to stand up to the pressure, but he was willing to bet the safest place was wherever Ren was.

To his surprise, Ren wasn’t meditating, at least not that he could tell. He was as close to the large viewport as it was possible to be, both hands and face pressed to it, long legs folded up under him. It looked deeply uncomfortable, but Ren often did.

Ren lurched to his feet like he’d interrupted a conversation when he spotted him, the momentum carrying Ren straight into his personal space. This was not that unusual - Ren had always had a very loose concept of personal space, but he surprisingly didn’t stop this time, wrapping one long arm around Armitage’s waist until he was pressed tightly to Ren’s chest. His other arm came up around his shoulders, hand cupping the back of his neck.

  
‘Ren. What do you think you’re doing?’ Armitage demanded, turning his head to avoid having his nose crushed into Ren’s chest. It had the unfortunate side-effect of putting his cheek against Ren, heartbeat steady in his ear. As far as he was concerned, Ren would get the respect of rank once he explained this further descent into odd behaviour. Vaguely threatening and slightly predatory was one thing - it was pretty much his modus operandi - but this clumsy albeit gentle manhandling was another.

  
‘I find your anxiety upsetting,’ Ren announced.

  
Armitage managed to tilt his head back to look Ren in the face, despite the hand on the back of his neck. ‘It’s never bothered you before’.

  
Ren was managing to both frown and look upset, staring off in the darkness of the sea outside. ‘I told you, I feel strange. I’ve only done three of the steps. It should be alarming, shouldn’t it? But I don’t feel alarmed. And I keep talking. To you. About it.’ The latter sentence came out broken, stuttered, like Ren knew it was abnormal but couldn’t make himself stop anyway.

  
Armitage considered this. ‘We should return to the surface, immediately. You can interrogate those treacherous xenos whilst I return to the Finalizer.’

  
‘Agreed, Grand Marshall.’

  
‘You will, of course, have to let go of me first. Supreme Leader.’

  
‘Ah.’ Ren paused, rubbing small circles into the delicate skin behind Hux’s ear with his thumb, ‘No’.

  
‘No?’ Armitage parroted back to him, ignoring the urge to shiver at the feel of Ren’s big hand touching him. He felt both literally and metaphorically out of his depth – there hadn’t been a lesson in the Academy on what to do if your force-mad superior refuses to release their hold on your person. He didn’t even like to think the word ‘cuddle’, though it was undeniably what Ren was doing.

Ren didn’t answer him, just used the arm around his back to drag their hips together, so close their stomachs touched. Armitage could feel Ren breathing against him, horribly intimate and warm. The hand on the back of his neck gently turned his head back to rest on Ren’s shoulder, and Ren turned his own head, their cheeks touching. This close, Armitage couldn’t help but breathe in Ren’s smell, something spicy that must have been his shampoo or soap, mixed with the normal First Order clean laundry smell. Even with a blaster to his head, Armitage would not admit to wanting to close his eyes and relax into the hold. His breath caught when Ren shifted his face, rubbing the slight scruff of his stubble against Armitage’s own. When he dropped his arms, it took Armitage a shameful moment to step away from him. In the low lighting of the submarine, Ren looked unsettlingly otherworldly.

Having extracted himself, Armitage hurried away back to the controls of the sub, more keen than ever to return them both to the surface. Ren’s behaviour was deeply concerning – the safest place was likely in his radius, but the Supreme Leader had also decided to lumber about hugging his officers, and he was in no hurry to return to that confusing embrace. According to the depth measure, they were half way down the chasm. He remembered one of the leaders earnestly explaining that the final stage of the ritual was down at the very bottom, a thought that had filled him with dread even before the full weight of the depth and isolation had hit him.

‘Kriff me’, Armitage swore as he began to fiddle with the controls.

Many of the controls were entirely automated, and resistant to being put over to manual control. It was a state of affairs that added weight to a malicious interpretation of the actions and intentions of the leaders. Not that he was imagining Ren would take a lot of persuading to let him fire on the planet once he was back on his ship. On his knees under the control panel, Armitage levered off the cover and promptly closed his eyes in annoyance. A tangled snarl of wires and sloppily soldered circuits greeted him. Even if he had the will to begin to parse out what was controlling what, Armitage doubted time was on his side. Giving into temptation, he leant forward to rest his head on the edge, and sighed heavily. ‘I hate this, I hate this, I hate him,’ he groaned under his breath, closing his eyes. ‘Get yourself together man, stop thinking about it, and stop talking to yourself.’ It was a firm instruction, and just what he needed to push himself out from under the control panel and up to his feet, taking a moment’s pause to take a breath, straightening his always immaculate uniform.

‘Ren! The inside of that control panel is worse than the general condition of this rust bucket would lead you to believe,’ Armitage said, marching back to where he had left Ren. He stopped abruptly when the other man raised his head to look at him, his dark eyes brimming with tears.

  
‘What...,’ Armitage marvelled at him. ‘I know the sub is falling to pieces around us and we’re trapped at the bottom of the ocean, but I hardly think it’s the appropriate time for an emotional outburst, Ren.’

  
Ren didn’t reply, just continued to hold his gaze with those dark wet eyes. Armitage wasn’t normally one to surrender when it came to eye contact, but Ren was proving to be an exception to yet another of his rules.

‘You said you felt off-balance earlier, but isn’t this… ritual nearly over? And supposed to reveal deep and mystic truths?’ Armitage asked, pushing down his reluctance to discuss anything related to Ren’s mysticism, though unable to help the sarcasm.

  
‘Yes. But I don’t think these feelings are coming from me. Or they are, but something is exaggerating them. Pulling my emotions out of balance. Perhaps the ritual, perhaps not.’ Ren’s brow furrowed, seemingly unconcerned about the slow tears starting to move down his face.

  
‘I wasn’t aware your emotions were ever on an even keel.’ Armitage couldn’t help but comment. Ren glared at him, moving closer until he was only at arm's length.

  
‘Alright, Ren, alright,’ Armitage sighed. He sat down, back to the open darkness around them. Ren was quick to follow, and Armitage let him. Ren wasn’t the only one having a less than ideal day, after all, and Armitage was quite glad someone was here, even if it were Ren. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ he demanded.

  
Ren huffed at him, tears still wet on his face, but didn’t reply. Instead, he reached out to shift Armitage back further and along, pressing his back against the viewport. It also gave Ren enough space to stretch out beside him, dropping his head abruptly onto Armitage’s thigh, quickly wrapping one large hand around his thigh, just above his knee. Despite his better judgement, Armitage let him. ‘I’ve more experience with the angry behaviour of earlier, but I can manage this, I suppose’, he said quietly mostly to himself, as he ran one hand gently through Ren’s thick hair.

  
‘You should call me Kylo,’ Ren said thickly, badly suppressing the urge to cry, Armitage was sure. He wouldn’t admit it, not even if Ren reminded him he could pick the thought out of his mind, but it was almost nice, sat here with Ren. Of course he had to ruin it - he wouldn’t be Ren if he didn’t.

‘We have to give them something to believe in, Armitage.’ Kylo said, breaking the comfortable silence, still sounding slightly thick with tears.

  
‘Who? What?’ He replied, jerking himself back to up to his normal perfect posture, having been somewhat lost in thought and vaguely hypnotised by the repetitive motion of his hand in Ren’s hair.

  
‘The Galaxy! What else would I be talking about?’ Kylo snarled back at him with customary bad grace.

  
‘If you have some ideas about subjugating the galaxy, I’m all ears. However, I would recommend starting smaller. Perhaps get the Order under heel first, hmm?’

  
Kylo sighed. ‘That’s what I mean. I won’t be subjugating them, I won’t have to, because they’ll believe in us, what we can do for them that the Republic or the Empire never could.’

  
‘And how do you imagine you’re going to accomplish that?’ Armitage demanded. ‘Starkiller is gone, we haven’t the resources to build another, much as I don’t like to say it. Half the Order spends most of its time plotting to get rid of you, and…’

  
‘We don’t need another Starkiller, I … the Order still has you here to think of something else. You built Starkiller because Snoke told you to build a better death star. What would you have built if he’d given you a free rein?’ Ren asked him, apparently serious in his line of questioning despite his still wet eyes.

  
Armitage sighed. ‘I don’t know, Ren. And technological innovation will only go so far in fixing your loyalty problem.’

  
‘I’d like to find out.’ Ren said. ‘And the loyalty or not of some left-over imperial dinosaurs is immaterial when I have you.’

  
Armitage raised an eyebrow.

  
Ren scoffed at him. ‘Don’t pretend that you haven’t figured out us working together is exactly what Snoke wanted to avoid.’

  
Armitage conceded that point with a sigh. Ren propelled himself dramatically to his feet, pacing back and forth in front of him.

*********

‘I’m going to free the galaxy, Hux, build something new, something better. No more corruption, no more longing for glory days that never were, no more oversights resulting in starvation and slavery…’

  
‘The First Order…’

  
‘The First Order was built on the ashes of the Empire.’ Kylo turned to the viewport, the inky blackness outside a more sinister true-dark than the starscape Hux was used to. ‘I said something new.’

  
Hux scoffed. ‘You’d know, you have a piece of the ashes of the Empire in your quarters.’

  
Kylo hummed. ‘It’s not easy to see what’s never been before. But I’ll show you. I’ll show you all. The past has to die, Hux. You’re going to be right next to me as we take these first steps into a new way of being.’

  
‘You’ve actually gone mad,’ Hux marvelled lowly.

  
Kylo’s eyes were blacker than the abyss outside. ‘You’re one to talk, Starkiller.’

Hux turned away, refusing to meet that wholly unsettling gaze.

Kylo reached out, taking Hux’s pale chin in his hand, moving him back to face him. He couldn’t resist the urge to move his thumb over the slight prickle of Hux’s stubble, shifting his thumb slightly to catch the soft pink of his bottom lip. Hux’s pupils had barely left a ring of sea-foam green around them - Kylo could only imagine what his own face showed. Kylo leant forward, catching Hux’s top lip between his, pressure so light it was barely there. In the low lights of the submarine, Hux’s eyelashes were golden, almost transparent, as his eyes opened.

Moving his thumb away from Hux’s mouth, he tilted Hux’s head slightly up, kissing him again. It was almost chaste until he nipped gently at Hux’s bottom lip. It was clearly enough encouragement for Hux, whose hands came up to grip at Kylo’s jaw, sliding his tongue into Kylo’s mouth, their tongues sliding rough and hot together. It would be so easy to just give into the maelstrom of feelings Hux was leaking, feed off them and return them two-fold to Hux, a feedback loop of desire.

‘I have to finish the ritual,’ he said, running his hands up and down Hux’s back, unwilling to stop touching him entirely.

  
‘Do you still feel strange?’ Hux asked, always suspicious, even with his pupils blown wide with arousal. Kylo found it difficult to resist the urge to touch, to outline his cheekbones with his fingertips, and so he didn’t.

  
‘A little. It’s better. Not so unbalanced now, I think. I just feel… drunk. In a spiritual way.’ Kylo answered, musing, watching his thumbs move back and forth over the soft skin of Hux’s cheeks. He frowned, ‘Why am I telling you that though?’

  
Hux snorted. ‘Did you mean to say that out loud? We should be nearing the maximum depth at any rate, so you can finish this ridiculous ritual.’

‘I don’t know what I’m supposed to be getting from this’, he confessed.

‘If the leaders of Barrayar wanted to unbalance the First Order leadership, I’d say they’ve been very successful, wouldn’t you?’

  
Kylo smiled at him. It wasn’t a nice smile. ‘When we get to the surface, I want you to rain fire on them.’

  
‘Gladly, Supreme Leader.’

With Hux ensconced back in the cab of the submarine, Kylo folded himself down into his preferred meditation pose, facing the black water. Despite how the ritual had so far affected his emotional and mental state, he felt driven to finish it. He closed his eyes, but in the next moment, he wasn’t in the sub anymore. He could see it, which was odd as he hadn’t opened his eyes, and he could feel the cold of the water, but only as a fact not a danger. Kylo found he couldn’t move, but his limbs felt present but not. He had read about this, in some of Snoke’s oldest sith holocrons – certain force users could share their minds, look through each other’s eyes, but the mind connected to his was not sentient. It had pulled him in - Kylo hadn’t even had a chance to fight against the pull, hadn’t even felt the pull before he was ensnared. Whatever creature he was sharing a mind with, he was a passenger, not the driver. It didn’t feel malevolent or harmful, but he refused to suffer even the possibility of something he couldn’t fight against, that could potentially be used against him. As soon as he recovered his body, he was definitely ordering Hux to fire on the planet from atmo.

By the time Kylo opened his eyes back in his own body again, he couldn’t even have hazarded a guess how long it had been. Some of the sensations from the creature lingered, but the impressions were dream-like. He felt more unsteady than before – having never been absolutely tanked before, Kylo would wager it felt a lot like this, but maybe more pleasant. It was vaguely reminiscent of being a bit drunk, after all, from what he remembered of it. Getting to his feet, Kylo found that one foot had terrible pins and needles in it, and the other was entirely asleep, which he blamed entirely for the trouble he was having walking.

‘Hux!’ Ren called out, bursting into the cab of the sub. ‘You can start to bring us up now, I’m done.’

  
‘Ah, good, Supreme Leader,’ he muttered. ‘I definitely know how to pilot a submarine older than me. Why don’t you just go for a lie down and leave it all to me?’

  
Kylo chose to ignore the heavy layers of sarcasm and annoyance that Hux was broadcasting. ‘Excellent idea, Grand Marshall, wake me up when we’re close to surfacing.’ Kylo said, before turning on his heel and marching to the narrow berths at the back of the submarine.

*********  
As much as he liked to complain, it wasn’t actually difficult to operate the sub now that they had hit the bottom, and the surfacing was a largely automated affair, much as the descent had been. Glad as he was that this largely uncomfortable experience was nearly over, Armitage was now mostly just bored. He’d ran out of admin work hours ago as well. And he certainly wasn’t going to think about that kiss.

He wouldn’t have said he was relaxed exactly, but he was certainly feeling less tense and anxious about the whole thing now that the end was in sight. Which was exactly the moment he heard the first alarming screeching of metal beginning to buckle. It was a nightmarish sound, somewhat literally for a child exiled to the outer rim in ships not fit for the purpose. He didn’t waste any time hurrying to the back of the sub, where Ren was asleep.

‘Wake the fuck up, Ren!’ he demanded as he barged into the berth, hand reaching out for Ren as he was shouting. ‘I told you this submarine was sub-standard!’

  
‘Was that a pun?’ Ren muttered, voice cracking on a yawn.

  
‘What are you talking about? Get up, Ren, the sub has stress fractures!’

  
‘What am I supposed to do about that? You’re the engineer!’

  
‘Why are you arguing with me?’ Armitage demanded, ‘unless you have a previously unmentioned ability to breath water and live at great depths, this is a problem for you as well!’

  
Instead of replying immediately, and matching Hux’s angry, worried energy, Ren stretched as he swung himself up from the bed. ‘How bad is the damage? What even caused it? I thought we were on our way up.’

  
‘We are, the buckling was sudden. I don’t see how there could have been a sudden pressure change sufficient to do this.’ Armitage said, more talking aloud to himself than to Ren. Ren made a small noise of realisation in the back of his throat, which drew Armitage’s attention like a moth to flame. ‘What?’ he hissed out through a jaw clenched so tight he was in danger of cracking a tooth.

  
‘Nothing’, Ren said, face suspiciously blank and his wide eyes fixed on Armitage. ‘What were you doing when it happened?’

  
Armitage was momentarily so taken with anger he was left speechless. ‘Me?’ he demanded once he’d recovered himself. ‘Only one of us here has the power to cause structural damage to the vessel we’re currently in at the bottom of the fucking ocean.’

  
‘It wasn’t my fault!’ Ren defended himself.

  
‘Oh, because I haven’t heard that before. I suppose you’re going to blame that filthy scavenger again’, he snarled back, knowing his anger in response was unreasonable, which only made it worse, and was unwholly unable to help himself from bringing her up, like poking at a fresh bruise just to feel the ache. Ren blinked at him, likely able to feel the anger for himself with his freakish, invasive powers.

  
‘I can hold the sub together, prevent the damage from spreading. We should be fine as long as we come up carefully and slowly,’ he said, tone oddly soft for Ren, who didn’t normally miss a chance to wind him up.

  
‘Then I’ll go do that’, Armitage hissed at him, turning on his heel to stomp off.

He didn’t expect Ren to follow him, but maybe he should have. He stopped too close to him as usual, but not touching.

  
‘I know you don’t really care about the nuances of the Force, but I need you to understand that she is my opposite, my balance. But you, Hux… Armitage, you’re just like me.’  
Armitage held his eyes, not conceding the battle of eye contact to him. ‘Don’t call me Armitage, Ren.’ Armitage said, after a long moment.

  
‘Don’t call me Ren’, he said in reply, reaching out for him again. Armitage didn’t stop him from wrapping his hands around his waist, but made no move to encourage him either.

  
‘What happened to the sub, then?’ Armitage asked.

  
‘I have some questions when we get back to the surface,’ Ren said scowling out at the ocean, ‘there is something alien and force-sensitive out there.’

  
Armitage frowned, ‘There was nothing in any of the materials about other sentients on the planet. I’m not inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt, though.’

Ren snorted. ‘No surprises there then.’

  
‘It’ll have to wait until we’re back on the Finalizer, however, there’s no way to relay orders until we’re back on land.’

  
‘And you want to be back on our ship anyway.’

  
Armitage shrugged. ‘Of course I want back on my ship. That’s where we keep the big guns.’

Ren smirked at him, and kissed him without hesitation. One hand moved to his hair, firm but gentle, and Ren slid one strong thigh between Armitage’s legs as he turned him to the wall. Armitage only registered the change in position when he felt his back against the wall, Ren’s hand protecting his head. Armitage brought his hands up, running them down the full length of Ren’s back just to feel the flex of solid muscle under his fingers. Ren was leaning heavily into him now, licking his way into his mouth, leaving no space between them. Armitage shoved him somewhat gently, looking at Ren’s chest.

  
‘Off, off,’ Armitage broke away from Ren’s mouth to say, ‘I hate your fucking clothes, take them off…’

  
‘I quite like your uniform,’ Ren said as he shucked off his belt and robe.

  
‘How many layers are there?’ Armitage demanded, as he realised Ren still appeared to be fully clothed. ‘You what?’ he said after a moment.

  
‘You look good, in your uniform’, Ren said, not meeting his eyes. ‘I like your boots.’

  
The lack of eye contact meant Armitage could take Ren by surprise, pushing him back until he was against the opposite wall. It brought Ren’s eyes up to his, just in time for Armitage to kiss him again before he urged, ‘come on, Ren, take the rest off’.

  
‘Call me Kylo’, he said, pulling the surcoat off.

Armitage looked at him through narrowed eyes, resisting the urge to touch Ren’s now bare arms. ‘Do you still feel strange?’

  
‘No, I think now we’re on our way up and away from whatever creature it is, the influence has waned.’

  
Armitage’s interest in Force-related mysticism had very much petered out now that Kylo had confirmed he was back in his right mind, as much as he ever was. ‘Are those suspenders?’ he demanded instead.

  
‘I think you’re the one in too many clothes now,’ Kylo said instead of answering him, unhooking the first few closures of Armitage’s jacket. Armitage undid the rest quickly himself, shrugging it off his shoulders and dropping it without a thought to the floor. His moment of distraction was enough for Kylo to dart back in, sucking Armitage’s lower lip into his mouth, nipping the swell of it before soothing over it with his tongue. Armitage couldn’t quite help the little noise that escaped him, and curled his fingers into the thick mass of Kylo’s dark hair at the back of his head, tugging enough to make Kylo gasp into his mouth. Kylo wrapped one large hand around the back of his neck, and shoved his thigh back between Armitage’s legs, groaning low into Armitage’s mouth when he felt how hard Armitage’s cock was against him. He shifted enough to get them aligned, heat coiling heavy in his gut at the way Armitage shuddered against him, mouths barely separating, still close enough to feel each other’s breath against their mouths.

‘Kylo’, Armitage hissed as he shifted to bite at the line of Kylo’s jaw, rolling his hips against him. Kylo shifted away, dropping one hand to palm at Armitage’s cock through his trousers.  
‘I want to see you come,’ he said, moving his hand to cup his balls gently in his palm. Even with the sensation dulled through clothes, it made Armitage want to shudder.

  
‘Touch me,’ he demanded instead.

  
‘Yeah,’ Kylo breathed, shoving one thigh up against where Armitage was hard and wanting against him. Kylo couldn’t hold back the urge to rut up against him again, and didn’t. Armitage’s teeth sank hard into his neck, which made him hiss and move to kiss him, hoping a little that he’d taste blood on Armitage’s teeth.

  
‘That’s disgusting,’ Armitage shoved at his chest a little, more to palm at Kylo’s chest than move him. ‘Get out of my head you horror.’

  
‘Please, please, please’ Kylo whimpered into his mouth, refusing to move away, their mouths brushing with each exhalation.

  
Despite himself, Armitage shivered at the feel - with Kylo so large and solid in front of him he was pinned perfectly in place. He kissed him again, both hands clutching at Kylo’s cheek, his jaw.

  
Kylo was back to rolling his hips up against him, hard but rhythmic, like he was already fucking him. Kylo’s hands grabbing at his hips so he could pull him away from the wall to get his hands on Armitage’s arse was the last straw, and Hux came with a small noise mostly muffled by Kylo’s mouth, and a hard bite to his lower lip. Armitage let his head fall back against the wall, closing his eyes so he didn’t have to look at Kylo’s mouth, wet, pink and swollen from his mouth and teeth. It didn’t really help with his composure.

For once, still trying not to let on how winded he was, Ren’s smug expression didn’t immediately get his back up. Kylo helped himself immensely by proving to be rather sweet, still holding him close, gently kissing his cheek, his jaw, back to his mouth, all undemanding despite his obvious erection pressing against the inside of Armitage’s splayed out thigh.

‘There’s no lube down here’, Ren told him after a moment, ‘Did you bring some?’

  
Armitage stared at him, reprieve obviously over. ‘Are you imagining I carry it around in my coat pocket?’

  
Kylo brightened, no doubt having a truly awful idea. He proved Hux right when he asked, ‘What about engine oil?’

  
Armitage scowled at him. ‘You aren’t touching the kriffing engine, Ren. The last thing this sub needs now is someone interfering with it.’

  
‘But I want to be inside you’, he said, running big hands down his sides. Armitage did his best not to shiver at the feel, Kylo’s hands hot even through his shirt. He did tilt his chin up, encouraging Kylo to kiss him again. Despite how good it felt, it was Ren’s tiny but hungry and greedy noises that were rapidly becoming Armitage’s obsession.

‘Take it all off’, Kylo urged, tugging none too gently at the small buttons of Armitage’s shirt. He leaned in again, brushing their mouths together, once, twice. His hands came up to cup Armitage’s face in broad palms and leant in again. The next kiss was deeper, wet, as Kylo shifted his head until his mouth fit wide and perfect over Armitage’s, licking his way into his mouth.

Armitage gave as good as he got, their tongues sliding hot over each other, as he ran both his hands down Kylo’s chest, feeling the firm muscles of his stomach shift and clench under his touch. He resisted Kylo’s attempt to push him firmly against the wall, and his attempt to muscle his way between Armitage’s legs. He refused to cede control wholly to Kylo, and nipped sharply at Kylo’s tongue. A move he only slightly regretted when he heard the multiple pings of buttons hitting the floor as Kylo ripped his shirt open, in a move both sexy and aggravating.

He pushed back at Kylo, trying to move him against the wall, gripping at his shoulders, biceps and waist in turn. Kylo went hot and heavy against him, trying to slot himself back between Armitage’s thighs, push against the other wall, even as Armitage pinched at his nipples and tucked his other hand just inside the waist of his trousers stopping just short of the root of Kylo’s cock.

***

‘Fuck’s sake,’ Kylo hissed at him, voice hot and low, ‘would you please either just bend over or spread your fucking legs?’

  
‘Make me,’ Hux hissed back at him, the red flush at his cheeks and the pink that spread down from his neck to his chest looking so tempting, it was almost enough to distract Kylo from what he wanted right now.

  
‘Oh, don’t tempt me,’ Kylo muttered, leaning to kiss him again, pressing their chests together tightly enough he could feel every tremor that ran through the other man. In the narrow gap between their hips, Kylo managed to get both his and Hux’s trousers undone, shoving his own down his hips and wiggling out of them with a motion that drew a hiss of pleasure from Hux. Shoving Hux’s trousers and underwear down revealed his cock, half-hard despite their recent orgasms, but still pink, and shiny-sticky with his cum.

  
‘Boots too’, Armitage demanded, though he was still surprised when Kylo dropped straight to his knees to help him pull the tight boots off. Kylo took advantage of his position, wrapping his hands around Armitage’s hips and spinning him sharply around to face the wall. Armitage brought his hands up quickly to prevent his face hitting the wall, but valiantly decided against kicking Kylo in the face when he felt him lean forward to press a gentle kiss to the base of his spine. Kylo’s hands were big and hot against his arse, gentle as he slid his thumbs into the crease, sending a shiver down his spine.

He leant forward, licking Hux slowly from his balls all the way up, feeling the shiver run through the other man as he did so. He kept licking at him, slow and shallow with the flat of his tongue as he wrapped a hand around his own cock. It made him whine against Hux, and pull back to rest his forehead against him, panting.

Kylo managed to take his hand off his cock, and used both hands to keep Hux open to him, helped by the other man shoving his hips back, bending himself more at the waist. Kylo fluttered his tongue against his rim, alternating with slow long licks, and he didn’t think Hux was even aware that the high breathy noises echoing through the sub were coming from him. Kylo shivered as he felt his own cock twitch, untouched, when he realised Hux’s arm above him was moving distinctly, that he could just hear the wet sounds of him touching himself over the slick sounds of Kylo’s mouth on him.

He used just the point of his tongue to trace the shape of his balls, moving his hand enough to be able to rub a thumb gently over his wet hole, now soft and relaxed to touch.

He wanted to know what noise he could drag out of Hux when he put his tongue back. Kylo moved his mouth eagerly, licking firmly at the wrinkled skin around his hole, a tease to himself as much as Hux when all he wanted was to fuck him with his tongue. Kylo shifted his hands for a better grip, spreading Hux as wide as he could, mouth open over his hole as if kissing his mouth, before pressing in with his tongue.

Hux sobbed.

Kylo sucked gently at the thin skin around his tongue, moving his mouth and tongue in a filthy kiss, his eyes closed, and so wrapped up in Hux’s pleasure, his own felt far away.

He felt Hux come under his mouth and gentled his touch before pulling away when he could feel and hear him hit the point of over stimulation. He couldn’t resist the urge to run soft fingers over the head of Hux’s cock, so wet and pink, and down the large vein in the shaft, getting him to whine through clenched teeth.

‘No Ren, I’m done’, Hux said, panting.

  
‘You’re not,’ Kylo growled back at him, still on his knees at Hux’s feet and glaring up at him. They must have made a filthy picture - Hux stripped entirely bare, him all but dressed, right down to his boots, his trousers undone, and his cock hard and wet.

He stood, turning Hux easily into his arms and kissing him, bringing his hands up to feel the flush heating Hux’s chest, the other man pliant and relaxed against him.

***

Kylo’s eyes lit up when he pulled away, suspiciously in Armitage’s view. ‘I have an idea’, he announced – further reason to be concerned. Armitage narrowed his eyes at him. ‘It doesn’t involve engine oil’, Ren rushed to reassure him.

  
‘You’ll be shocked to know that doesn’t exactly alleviate my concerns, Ren.’ Armitage muttered, shoving Ren’s top up and off, dropping it carelessly to the side.

  
‘I’ve always wanted to try this,’ he muttered, one large hand wrapping around his cock, thumb playing over the slit, rubbing around the edge of the head of his cock.

‘Try what?’ Armitage snapped at him. ‘I hope you’ve not been taking pointers from whatever filthy New Republic holoporn you’ve been watching. Don’t think I don’t know about that.’  
Ren hmm’d at him, instead of answering, eyes fixed on his hand.

  
‘I don’t have a foreskin, you know,’ he said, leaning in to rest his brow against Armitage’s.

  
‘As shockingly large as your cock is, Ren, I had in fact noticed.’

  
‘No, I mean, urgh. I’ll just show you.’ Ren rudely rolled his eyes at him, his hand tugging Armitage’s foreskin back over the wet head of his half-hard cock. His other hand wrapped around his own cock, bringing them together.

  
‘Your idea of something exotic and different is a hand job, Ren?’ Armitage asked archly.

  
‘Hardly, Hux,’ Ren said under his breath, eyes fixed on his hands.

As Ren pulled Armitage’s foreskin further up and over the head, he gently slid his thumb around the inside of it, swiping over the new wetness beginning to appear. He moved his own cock so that the heads met, moving his hand to hold them together, as his other brought Armitage’s foreskin up further, so that it began to cover his own.

‘Oh,’ Armitage breathed out, slightly trembly.

Kylo kissed him again, swiping his tongue over his teeth until their tongues met. Kylo had to stop himself nipping too sharply at Hux’s tongue as he felt more wetness pulse out over the head of his cock in the space where they were joined.

  
‘Do you want me to stop?’ Kylo asked, sounding amused though breathless. Armitage wrapped one hand around Kylo’s forearm, and the other around his shoulder, just to feel the shift and play of his muscles.

  
‘I didn’t say that’, Armitage muttered in reply, eyes fixed on where they were joined. Armitage reached up for Kylo’s shoulders, squeezing at his solid muscles as he drew him close enough to kiss again.

Kylo held them tighter together, moving his hand in short, tight strokes that made Armitage close his eyes, his breath coming in pants. Kylo couldn’t keep his hips still, he’d been hard for so long, and the taste of Hux was still heavy on his tongue. He whined into the humid space between their mouths, speeding up his hand, squeezing and twisting at both their cocks. He could feel Armitage get harder against him and leant in to rest his forehead on Hux’s brow, rubbing his nose against the other man’s. He felt more wetness pulse out from his own cock as Hux moved to bite his lower lip, and then nipped his neck, just below his ear, hand twisting back into Kylo’s hair again to tug at his head.

Kylo let Hux’s foreskin slide back naturally as the other man hardened completely, shifting his hand to wrap around them both, holding them together. He moaned, and kept his hand still, fucking his cock through the loop of his fingers, rubbing against Armitage’s, right at the ridge of the glans, the pleasure raw and sharp as he rubbed the most sensitive part of their cocks together.

Armitage’s jaw had gone tight, his teeth gritted against the pleasure and over-sensitivity. Kylo wanted to see him come again, wanted him to come first again, to see the white of his come spill over the red head of Kylo’s cock. When Armitage choked out a yes against his jaw, he realised he must have been saying this out loud, and sucked his earlobe into his mouth, stopping the stream of words. They were pressed so tightly together Kylo could feel the heat of his skin, and the rough scratch of the hair on his chest, stomach and thighs against his own.

Kylo’s hand pressed their cocks tightly together, both fucking through the circle of his fingers, against each other. Kylo kept mouthing at Armitage, moving with rough kisses from his jaw, cheek and catching his mouth again, sucking Armitage’s lower lip into his mouth and swallowing his bitten off groan. He couldn’t catch his breath, but also refused to stop kissing Armitage. He was forced to when Hux shoved his hand into Kylo’s hair, fisting it firmly so he was forced to meet those stern sea-grey eyes blown wide with arousal. Kylo would never know how he held out under that gaze, but he did - though the uptick at the side of Hux’s mouth meant he definitely felt how hard Kylo’s cock twitched against his.

‘Go on, then,’ Hux breathed into his mouth, lips brushing his with every word. Kylo moaned, and leant in to kiss him again.

Just as he felt he couldn’t hold out any longer, Kylo’s orgasm hit him, everything whiting out, his hips jerking against Armitage’s, head of his cock against the pale skin of Hux’s belly, his come shooting in long jets. Armitage let out a throaty gasp as he felt the hot wetness splatter over his abdomen, his cock. He kept his hand wrapped around Kylo’s, keeping his grip tight around them.

Looking down, the white of Kylo’s cum covering his cock hit Hux like a punch to the gut, his hand still and tight around them. Kylo began moving first. Sliding their joined hands up, slicking Hux’s cock with his cum, fighting through the oversensitivity sending shivers through him, determined to bring Armitage off again. A few tight pulls had Hux shuddering against him, coming with a few hot spurts, shaky from his previous orgasms, but with his legs spread wide over Kylo’s thigh, head thrown back.

Kylo couldn’t take his eyes off him, face open in pleasure, his eyes shut, copper lashes so long they seemed to brush his cheekbones. Hux, normally so perfect and untouchable, wrapped in his arms, sweat-slick, shivering and breathless. Kylo leaned in to rub his nose against Armitage’s, catching Hux’s open, panting mouth in a deep kiss.

‘Oh, fuck,’ Hux said after tilting his head back away from Kylo, eyes still shut. He sounded undone. Genuine, not a trace of his usual tightly wound tone. ‘Kriffing hell, Kylo.’

Kylo smiled, but only after he pressed his forehead to Armitage’s, their breaths mingling between them. Armitage wrapped an arm around Kylo’s shoulder, loosely holding him close.

  
‘Again?’ Kylo asked.

  
Hux slitted open one eye, and said, ‘Fuck off, Ren.’

  
Kylo kissed him instead.

Armitage broke away before Kylo was ready for him to, but he could see Hux gathering himself back, the mask of general firmly back in place. He let him, stepping away but Kylo’s gaze stayed on him, hot and roving. Hux pinked up under his scrutiny, but didn’t say anything, looking around for his clothes instead.

It was still difficult for them to keep their eyes off each other - they would both catch the other’s eye, and look away, awkward. Kylo had all but ripped Armitage’s shirt off, and he’d given up trying to put it back on, sliding his uniform jacket on over bare skin. Kylo left most of his inner clothes in a cum-stained heap on the sub floor - plenty of layers meant he had enough clothes to put back on and still look presentable. Hux seemed to be struggling on that front, cheeks still flushed, hair falling into his eyes. Kylo thought he’d rarely looked better, but he knew the other man would hate looking anything other than perfectly put together in front of their men. He stepped forward, and pushed the wayward strands of hair back to where they belonged.

  
‘There, all better.’

  
Hux narrowed his eyes at him, obviously still suspicious of his angle, and his ‘thank you’ sounded like it had been dragged out. But he did say it, and Kylo smiled slightly at him.

‘We’re going to have to go back to the shuttle with cum in our pants,’ Hux complained, once he’d finished fussing with both his hair and uniform, ruining Kylo’s moment. He shrugged, unworried.

  
‘You’re going to destroy them from atmo anyway, who cares what they think?’

  
That won him a nasty smile. It warmed something in Kylo’s chest. ‘As you say, Supreme Leader.’

  
The sub had brightened considerably as they rose, enough that Hux was backlit now, so pale he seemed to glow slightly. After they broke the surface, the door unlocked automatically. ‘After you,’ Hux said, ready to take his usual position at Kylo’s shoulder.

  
Kylo offered Armitage his hand, ‘Together?’


End file.
